


lay your head on my pillow.

by humanepluviophile



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 90s AU, Everyone Is Gay, I make myself laugh, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, JunHao - Freeform, M/M, Mutual Pining, Running Away, Summer AU, YOU KILLED GOKU, bike rides are cute, both jun and minghao are underage, childhood AU, honestly this is really self-indulgent, honestly this is the cutest thing, i hate the summer personally but writing this made me hate it less, its also so fucking funny, jun is 17, jun is a whole fucking softie, junhao childhood au, loosely based off of my real life whoops, minghao is 15, oh it takes place in the 90s, ongoing summer fic, only half-serious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 17:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanepluviophile/pseuds/humanepluviophile
Summary: 90s childhood AU where xu minghao and wen junhui repeatedly meet under a bridge to escape their home lives and enjoy the summer together getting up to some pretty Wild Shit. well... as much wild shit that two lanky awkward teens can get up to in one summer.





	1. running away from your bullshit

**Author's Note:**

> yo welcome to my newest fic! its stupid and mildly funny and going to be ongoing for the whole summer. I'll prob update it on sundays/mondays. If you like 90s/2000's nostalgia and summer secret love, then you'll probably find this fic slightly amusing and endearing.

The blairing of a loud horn didn’t faze him. What did was the burley truck driver flipping him off and just straight up yelling gibberish as he passed.

It was surprising he didn’t get hit by the 16-wheeler as he sprinted down the edge of the street at 2am.

This was all too familiar but brand new all at once. Minghao had been pushed before, but not to the extreme where he decided to run away.

He knew it wouldn’t be forever, probably just for a little while. Maybe not even the whole night. He’s never been out at this time of night, especially not alone. But he needed to leave the house, now. His parents were yelling at him this time for 4 hours… they started right before Hao was going to bed and didn’t stop.

Maybe it was the impulsivity that Xu Minghao, a 15 year old, only child, chinese immigrant in an all white town, possessed. But then again maybe it was the exhaustion. The past 3 nights, Hao had been yelled at by his parents for little things that really were blown out of proportion. But it didn’t matter. All he knew was he had to get away.

So, midway through a lecture from his father, while sobbing profusely, he snatched his house keys and flashlight, and ran past them, accidentally pushing his mother into a potted plant.

With that memory came a tinge of regret. But it was too late now, Hao knew that. He should just wait until morning. He chuckled solemnly through his broken tears because he knew his parents wouldn’t care enough to search for him tonight. Both he and they knew he would be back by morning.

Through weeping eyes, Minghao ran. He passed swerving cars until he reached his desired destination about two miles away from his house.

It was around 2:49am when the boy arrived at the entrance to the rail trail and it was then that he also realised 4 things;

1\. He couldn’t remember when he stopped crying.  
2\. His lungs were burning to the point where they were numb.  
3\. He had a flashlight the whole damn time.  
4\. He was parched.

Slowly, his jelly legs trudged forward into the mildly scary dirt path as he flicked on the hefty flashlight. He knew he had a good 15 minute walk to the safe place so he inserted the keys in between his long fingertips in case, ya know, he got lynched.

In the meantime, he felt an odd sense of terror and peace all at once. The animals that yelled around him were consistent and repetitive, like the loud whir of a fan when you try to go to sleep. Or the crash of the waves and chat of family when you nap at the beach.  
In this situation, the screech of the crickets and the song of the frogs calmed him down. The stickiness of the air warmed his cheeks and sweat-drenched body.

He took a mental Note to Self: don’t run two miles in the middle of the night when its the middle of June and 70 degrees out.

The breeze was nice though, he thought, as his soaked hair began to dry.

By the time he reached the bridge, he had completely dried off and had been bitten by at LEAST eight (8) bugs. He walked to the area when the bride met the land and walked down the makeshift rock stairs (he had made for himself 2 weeks ago when he found this place after school ended) to the shore.

Instantly, he felt the Gods were with him because he dropped to his knees dramatically and drank from the river’s edge as though his life depended on it. At first, the semi-dirty water burned going down his throat but that thought was replaced with another:

_Why the **fuck** are they called fresh-water streams? This tastes like ass._

His, clearly intellectually advanced, thoughts were interrupted when he heard the recognizable shift of fabric against the wooden pillars underneath the bridge that he sat on many times before. The asian boy’s neck was a hair away from snapping with how fast he turned his head. Instantly, a chill ran through his whole body as he saw a shadowy figure.

He scrambled in the dark to find the flashlight he had brought with him before attempting to turn it on only to have it flicker weakly against the gentle waves and die. Minghao cursed profusely under his breath, tripping over his own words, before smashing the flashlight against his palms 14 times. Aka until his hand was tingly because he got distracted by, you guessed it, hitting himself.

Before he flicked on the light, though, he saw a barely visible, soft green glow reflecting over the stranger’s face. No. Way.

_That was his fucking Tamagotchi._

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” The black haired one squealed, his voice cracking higher.

No response.

A few small steps forward.

“HEYYYY! YOU! WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, PLAYING WITH MY-” and that was when he flinched because the figure reached up and scratched his ear.

The person was wearing earbuds, of course. Then, Minghao inched forward so he could be as far away as possible from the person but within an arm’s length.

The skinny boy leaned back and extended his left hand, right fist (with keys in between) shaking in fear. His fingers barely brushed the figure’s shoulder before they jumped a solid 4 feet in the air, shrieking and dropping the fire red Tamagotchi into the river below.

The person, who Hao could now make out was a boy a little older than himself, whipped around to face him, chest heaving, and a shocked expression on his face. He ripped his own earbuds out and watched as Minghao’s jaw dropped at the absolute travesty of his prized possession being not only dropped into water but glitching and dying.

It was at this moment that the other boy knew: he fucked up.

With what some would compare to a battle cry, Minghao tackled the other boy to the right of the wooden plank he was sitting on, into a small section of pebbles.

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT YOU ABSOLUTE MONSTER!!” Hao screamed, tears pricking his eyes for like the 20th time that night. He pinned the obviously confused boy to the ground, slamming him against the rocks.

“I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!! I-” the other boy, said in a softer voice, shielding his face with his forearms.

“YOU KILLED GOKU!!” Minghao yelled at the top of his lungs and suddenly the boy under him paused and removed his forearms from his face. _What is he talking about? King Yama gave him another life? Oh wait._

 _Goku, who he now realized was the name of the rare Zatchi on the random Tamagotchi he just found, was now dead._ The realization of the crime against humanity the boy committed, made him cry, too.

For a solid 5 minutes, the two boys, one on top of the other, sat there, weeping over the loss of a beloved member of society. Eventually, though, both boys stopped crying after Hao got off of the boy below him and the figure offered him a half-eaten watermelon Pushpop (in which everyone knew was the best flavor and almost always sold out in the stores) as a form of apology. Minghao crunched the Pushpop in half like a savage and chewed the candy, which made the other boy a little scared to be completely honest. _Because, really, who eats a Pushpop like that!?_

“I’m Junhui…” The now-named figure said after sitting in almost silence (silence besides Minghao’s loud crunching) for 2 whole minutes. He fiddled with his fingers and pushed his walkman back into the pocket of his neon orange, green, and yellow windbreaker jacket.

“No,” Hao mumbled. “You’re a murderer… but I’m Minghao.” Hao said nonchalantly, looking over the edge of the giant wooden plank in front of them, into the water below.


	2. an ugly crier

“What are you talking about!? Wonderwall was DEFINITELY better than Don’t look back in anger. Its non-negotiable.” Minghao said, rolling up his pants a little higher on his calves so the splashing of waves didnt soak his jeans. He hated riding home with wet jeans, which had been happening more often than not ever since he met the other lonely chinese boy.

“I’m sorry, Xuie, but you're SO wrong.” Junhui exhales deeply through his nose and wiggled his toes in the cool water surrounding his feet. “Don’t look back in anger is the best on the whole album.”

There’s a moment of silence and Junhui gets scared, because never in the week that he has known the other boy has Minghao ever let him get the last word in.

“Ya know… I’m really sorry…” The younger mumbles under his breath, looking at his shoes. Honestly at this point, all Jun can think about is if he somehow traveled through an alternate dimension and landed in a place where Xu Minghao is nice to him.

“What are you talking about?” Junhui says cautiously, completely untrusting of this clone. Suddenly he feels a soft flutter against his ankle and he looks down, spotting a minnow swimming up against him. He maybe had seen four of the same fish within the past 20 minutes but somehow this one was special. _Maybe he was in another dimension?_

“I’m really sorry… It must be tragic for you to go through life with noN-FUNCTIONING EARS!”

_Okay. Yep. There it is._

The Minghao he knew was back and snarky as always. The two of them argued for a little bit more before Junhui (as expected) submitted to Hao’s war-like influence for every opinion he had. Jun won the rock-skipping competition that the other decided they’d have which was surprising for all reasons except one: Junhui was really good at skipping rocks.

His father had always taken Jun to fishing trips in a desperate attempt to show him attention after they had his younger brother. Jun appreciated his father’s efforts but he couldn’t help find it sad how they would sit in silence skipping rocks until the sun went down. Those days always ended with sand in his socks and sea bass for supper.

Jun always sat quietly with his own thoughts while Minghao audibly shouted the number of times the flat slippery rocks would smack the surface of the water. Hao’s record was 4 (and a half; as it hit a low-flying bird on the last skip and Minghao yelled about how it was an interception) and Jun’s was 9.

Jun wasn’t even trying at this point, only gently flicking his wrists with ease, because he knew Hao would never beat him at his own game. The taller male was more interested on how Minghao visibly shook with anger after his 34th attempt at beating Jun’s record once again settled at 3 skips.To Jun, it was stupid how angry Hao would get at certain things as if being correct was the only thing that mattered to the 15 year old he met a week ago. He just kept grunting and counting and then mildly yelling for at least another 30 minutes. The grunts progressed to wails and the light throws of the rocks turned to Minghao taking fistfuls of rocks and chucking them into the body of water at their feet. 

Jun had tuned out Hao briefly until he saw the boy beside him trip over his lanky chicken legs and fall to his knees.

“Hey!” Jun shouted and gently grabbed the other boy’s frail wrist, making him jump as if he didn’t expect anyone had listen to his yells. Minghao looked over with a shocked expression, tears streaming down his smooth eyelids, and snot dripping onto his top lip… he looked disgusting. “Are you okay, _xiao hao_?” He said in an almost whisper-tone, afraid he would scare the deer in headlights in front of him.

Junhui watched as Minghao’s expression turned from shocked and scared to mildly embarrassed to livid. He ripped his wrist away from the caring Jun and threw on his beat-up Nike 95s (not even pulling the heel of the shoe all the way over his foot) before shakily standing.

“I’m fine.”

“Do you need a bandaid for your knee? You hit it pretty hard... I think I have some TMNT ones in my bag… I know you don’t like the Leonardo ones but they might be the only ones I have left.” Jun rambled, quickly searching his bag, oblivious to the deeper meaning to Minghao’s outburst.

And that was how they’re symbiotic relationship worked; Minghao, all firey and angry and upset would be able to vent his emotions unfiltered and Junhui, uncomfortable with confrontation, would pretend he didn’t notice and try to distract his lost friend.

That dusk, they parted their separate ways in silence, the unspoken agreement to meet tomorrow and do everything over again already established. Though, it felt tense that time, like Hao was holding his breath; waiting to say something, and he was seconds away from suffocation. Their stares lasted a few seconds too long and the wheels of the tires wouldn’t screech away in that same tone they always did.

When Hao got home, he could hear the screaming from the end of his driveway. She always would be screaming something about leaving and he would always test her patience, both pushing and shoving until at least one of the two got hurt. Sometimes he would sit in his windowsill at 4am when they would scream and just watch them fight… The poor neighbors. He wondered if people stayed with each other due to obligation rather than love. It wasn’t that Minghao didn’t believe in love, he just thought it never lasts. _How long does it last?_

“Minghao.” His father’s stern voice echoed from the doorway, snapping Minghao out of his trance-like state. “Stop stalking the neighbors and come inside now.” The stern and unnecessarily annoyed voice grumbled once again. And with that, his repetitive life fell into place once again; seeing Jun not only being part of the routine, but his favorite part.

* * *

Jun shook his head for the fourth time that morning.

“Hao, I told you, I already have another at home.” The older male lied, shoving the card into the smaller’s thin palm.

Junhui remember when he had first got his Shining Charizard. It was a saturday and his older cousin (17 years old at the time), Dishi, had brought him (12) and his younger brother (6) to the mall via his parent’s request. Dishi and the two brothers got along really well and Dishi always treated them even kinder when their parents were inevitably fighting again. Dishi always told the two of them that they each could get one thing 10 dollars or under. Jun always remembered his brother getting one of two things: a bag full of candy at a penny candy store (then proceeding to vomit it all back up 3 hours later but quote “it was worth it” unquote.) or a beanie baby. Jun on the other hand would spend the whole trip silently contemplating which item he would get this time.

On this particular trip, he decided on a pack of Pokemon cards. Dishi was proud of the wise decision. They all sat in the food court in anticipation as Jun opened the foil package. Two Bellsprouts, two Weepinbells, one Victreebel, three Eevees, one Staryu, one Starmie… and a _motherfucking **Shining Charizard.**_

All three boys lost it.

Jun’s younger brother was the first to cry, begging Dishi to take him to buy a pack of Pokemon cards even though he’d already used his 10 dollar item on a stuffed lizard who he proceeded to name Liz (an original genius, I know). Dishi was the second to cry, realizing this was the only super rare card he’d ever see in his lifetime and actually sobbed when he touched it. Jun was the last to cry because he didn’t know why everyone else was crying, also mildly because he was thanking the gods for giving him this small victory in life.

“Are you sure, Junnie?” Minghao asked, looking like he’d just discovered the lost library of Alexandria.

Junhui cracked a smile and finally let go of the card, hoping that the small token of affection would only bring happy tears to Hao and help aid his distress, just like it had his a few years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol ok pokemon was my shit and i kinda vented my love for it through this chapter. i love the mild angst and forced humor lmao whoops.
> 
> Also if you wanna follow me on tumblr: humanepluviophile.tumblr.com


	3. little trolls

“Have you seen the ads for that new movie about the crazy cannibal guy?” Minghao piped up, staring straight ahead, sort of lost in the trance of the water.

“Body Parts?”

“Uhh… no…”

“Silence of the Lambs?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“... what about it?”

“It looks pretty cool…”

Junhui progressively got more confused at what the point to this commentary was. It was then that he realized the gentle blush on Minghao’s cheeks and his personal intentions.

“Would you wanna go with me tonight? I think it's playing at the movie theater on Main Street.”

Minghao visibly puffed his chest out and leaned back on his hands against the gravelly sand.

“I mean, yeah, sure, man. I don’t think I’m gonna do anything else tonight.” Minghao said, trying to act very nonchalant (and failing).

“You sure you’re not gonna be too scared, Hao?” Junhui teased, lightly hitting Minghao in his (nonexistent) bicep.

“NO! YOU’RE THE SCAREDY CAT AROUND HERE, WEN JUNHUI!!” Minghao screamed, not even caring if he easily took the other’s bait.

Jun just chuckled a response and sighed in content.

* * *

About an hour later, the boys decided they would go home a bit early so they could get ready to go to the movies later that night. They agreed to meet at the theatre at about 8:30 or so.

When Jun went home, there was nobody in the house, which put him at ease. Usually it was always uneasily silent, like everyone was on edge. But with no one home, that terrifying agony melted into peace.

He hummed to himself as he picked out some fresh jeans and a nice shirt. He had to stop himself for putting on a dress shirt and tie because he had forgotten that he was just going out with Minghao.

Minghao.

Just the 15 year old that happened to make him laugh uncontrollably like he never had before, to the point where after hanging out with him, his stomach and cheeks would ache for hours. Just the chinese boy who loved video games and could beat anyone he knew at a trivia game about Cowboy Bebop. Just the short guy who loved to jump into murky, leech-filled lakes because “the leeches can fight me if they feel like sucking MY blood”.

Yeah. Just Minghao.

He continued to hum to himself as he got ready when his younger brother knocked on the door and barged in. “Junh- heyy why are you grinning like that- “ The little boy grinned in the doorway, leaning on it and crossing his arms over his chest.

Junhui looked up while he continued to button up his tapered acid washed jeans and tucked his “Cowabunga, dude!” shirt into them. “What are you talking about, Yang Yang?”

The 11 year old just smiled knowingly back with the face reminiscent of a sly fox. Jun rolled his eyes in response and decided to move on. “May I help you?”

“I was wondering if we could order pizza tonight.”

Junhui nodded, rummaged through his beaten up wallet and handed his younger brother a crisp 5 dollar bill. “Go nuts.”

Jun left shortly after throwing on his Chuck’s and hopped on his bike. The ride to the theatre was nice because there was finally the first breeze of the day. The past week since he met Minghao had been ridiculously humid. They say new things bring changes in atmosphere.

When he got there, he saw essentially the only other Asian boy in town leaning against the box office ticket booth. He was dressed a different t-shirt but the same ratty old cargo pants he had worn earlier that day. Funny enough, Jun noticed his hair was dripping wet.

“Hey,” Jun walked his bike over to the other and chained it up next to his. “Were you waiting long?” Wen Junhui; ever so polite.

“Nah, man.” Minghao commented nonchalantly, not looking up from his neon orange Game Boy Color.

The boys stood together awkwardly. Swaying back and forth on the balls of his heels, Junhui checked his watch and saw they had about a half an hour before the movie started.

“Okay then, let’s go.”

… 

“Wait so he was trying to make a skin suit of girls’ bodies?!” Hao pondered, dumbfounded.

“For the third time, yes.” Jun smiled as he waved his hands around trying to get the point across.

Their fingertips brushed as they walked down the street to get some dinner at a local pizza joint. It scared the taller male at first because the other’s fingers were so cold it felt like tiny shocks every time they accidentally touched. It reminded him of in the movie theatre how they shared a big bucket of popcorn, the boys being too broke themselves to each buy one. On occasion, they would both reach for some of the snack and their fists would hit each other. Minghao was more aggressive with his desire for the popped corn, grabbing handfuls at a time and shoveling them into his mouth, spilling at least half of the buttery food all over himself in the process. As soon as he was done, he’d dive back in. Junhui, on the other hand, would delicately grasp like maybe 3 pieces tops and put them in his mouth, chew thoroughly with his mouth closed, and swallow, always followed by a swig of his coke-cola. Multiple times during the movie, their routines of eating overlapped and they’d steal awkward glances before Junhui would feel obligated to let Hao go first.

They arrived at Antonio’s Pies mildly sweaty and starving; popcorn, cola, and the occasional gummy worm can only last you so long through a two hour movie. The savory smell of greasy pizza was enticing but both boys were distracted by the music BLARING from the jukebox to the right of the door. 

Currently, “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child had every middle-aged woman in a mile radius bopping her head along to the beat. A devilish grin grew on Hao’s face as he fished into his pockets and pulled out three crumpled dollar bills. He ran up to the cashier and returned with a handful of quarters.

“Just grab a seat.” Hao shooed Junhui away with a wicked giggle under his breath. The brown-haired boy shrugged and found a booth tucked away in the corner of the pizzeria. Suddenly he heard the first few notes to a popular 60’s song and glanced across the room to Minghao cackling to himself in front of the jukebox.

_Pussycat, pussycat, I love you~!_

A weird song choice for Xu Minghao but Junhui shrugged it off and looked over the menu as the other made his way to the table.

It was the third time that What’s New Pussycat played over the speaker system when Jun noticed this song wasn’t actually _that long_. People old and young alike were starting to turn heads in every which direction and flag down their poor waiters to ask what was going on. _Their_ poor waiter had delivered their pizza a moment ago and Minghao was a sneering mess.

Their order for a (compromised) half anchovies, peppers (not the green kind), and pineapple, the other half cheese was placed on their table. Junhui’s mouth watered and suddenly he had realized how hungry he was (even besides the popcorn and soda). He dove into the non-heathenish cheese pulling a gooey, stringy slice from the pan and placing it on his plate. The pizza burned the roof of his mouth but he didnt care. It was delicious.

Minghao, on the other hand, was typically the first to get a bite but he was so caught up in his stupid shenanigans, he didn't notice the pizza sat down in front of them reeking of fish, fruit, and vegetables (a complete meal, according to Hao).

This was now the 6th time What’s New Pussycat played overhead and people we’re now fully aware who was the culprit of this mess, and stared… angrily. Junhui nibbled on his pizza like he had no sense of what was going on; which, to be fair, wasn’t too much of a reach because most of the time he didn't. But internally, he was sweating buckets, shitting his pants, losing his marbles at the notion that the only two Asian boys in town just played What’s New Pussycat by Tom _motherfucking_ Jones for the 7th time. He was about to say something to Minghao but, suddenly, the music changed and It's Not Unusual came on.

A sigh of relief came like a wave over the whole pizzaria. People, now peacefully, returned to their meals. The song itself wasn’t even good. Not in the slightest. But just because it wasn’t blaring “W HatS NeW pusSyCAt WOAHH WOAH WOAHHHHH~”, the people were satisfied. It was very short lived though, because Hao practically spit the soda out of his nose with laughter before Jun heard the first few notes of the cursed song. 

Needless to say, they took of the rest of the pizza to go.

* * *

“That was hilarious, Junnie,” Minghao cackled, shoving a slice of lukewarm pizza in his mouth.

“I think the best prank of my career.” He added, pointing the slice at the elder boy.

“Mm,” Junhui nodded, smiling. “I agree. I was pretty scared but I think that we made it out of there just in time… I think there was some guy cracking his knuckles at me.”

“Cracking his knuckles!?” The other boy exclaimed, exasperated.

“Have you never done it before?”

“Uhhh, psh, _no_. I’d like to keep my fingers healthy, thank you.”

“It's not bad for you- here give me your hand.”

“No! _No!_ ” Hao’s voice cracked as he feverishly stayed away from Junhui.

Now it was Junhui’s turn to be devilish, his grin said that much. He grabbed Hao’s wrist in one swift motion and had to forcibly hold him down to crack his knuckles. After the first, Minghao was _Gone_. He screamed bloody murder and Jun giggled, his sheer lanky form able to hold the other down.

The two boys wrestled like that until the bottom called Uncle and they settled under their bridge. Little trolls.


End file.
